Tuesday, 26 October 2010

I've only been getting a few moths each time I trap, mainly a mix of Grey-pine Carpet, Feathered Thorn, the occasional Chestnut and November/Winter moth(Epiritta sp.) which is hardly surprising considering how cold it's been...hopefully next year will be a better year for moths in my garden.

Wednesday, 6 October 2010

I'm sorry that I haven't been regularly updating the blog recently but a family crisis has eaten up a lot of my spare time, I have still been trapping as often as possible and I've had some interesting moths so here are some of them.

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

The new lamp almost doubled the catch on Monday night and it included some beauties including my first ever Feathered Gothic, I also got the second Dark Sword Grass for this year but this one didn't manage to fly off before I got a photo. The Gold Spot moths have started to turn up in decent numbers again including one which is quite different in appearance so I'm hoping it's a Lempke's Gold Spot, I'll be sending it to my county recorder so he can get it checked properly and I'll let you know the result as soon as I have it.

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Some of you may know that I recently purchased a large collection of butterfly and moth specimens plus a huge amount of setting and collecting equipment so I've been very busy with that recently as well as being in the midst of a family crisis. I have tried to put the trap out at least every other night(or in the kitchen doorway if it's been raining) but I have been very disappointed by the lack of moths compared to last year. I've sorted the collection now and the family crisis has just about sorted itself so with tonight being the warmest night for 2 weeks I put the trap out, I looked at it and realised that the lamp was nowhere near as bright as it should be so I swapped it for a new one and within seconds(literally!) the moths came swarming over. I get a bad feeling that I've been attempting to trap with a 'dull' lamp for the last few weeks and hopefully things will pick up again now it's been replaced.
Anyway the last 7 days have managed 3 new species including one NFG Macro(Mouse Moth) and one Small China Mark(NFG)(ID thanks to Bill)

Saturday, 7 August 2010

After saying how quiet things have been in my last blog it has now started to pick up a bit, still not up to the numbers recorded this time last year but getting there and plenty of NFY and NFG species turning up.

Sunday, 1 August 2010

I've been trapping every other night but it's very quiet compared to this time last year, the temperatures have been low which could explain up to a point but there just don't seem to be as many moths in my garden this year?. I've still managed a few newbies this week though with a Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing(NFY) and a Lychnis which is NFG as well as a few others I'm not sure of.(ID thanks to Matt for the Nutmeg(NFG)) ID thanks to Skev for the Eucosma campoliliana.